The property market in Bath is hotter than ever

House prices in Bath are the highest in the West Country, fuelled by great
architecture, good schools and fierce competition to find the perfect family
home.

Image 1 of 8

Georgian BathPhoto: TONY HOWELL

Image 1 of 8

Camden Crescent , where a two-bedroom maisonette is for sale for £630,000 through Knight Frank, 01225 325999

Image 1 of 8

Family friendly: Richard Bertinet, his wife Jo and children Jack, Tom and Lola, outside their home in BathPhoto: CHRISTOPHER JONES

Image 1 of 8

The Bertinet family home in Berkeley Place, BathPhoto: CHRISTOPHER JONES

Image 1 of 8

Inside the Bertinet's home in Berkeley Place, BathPhoto: CHRISTOPHER JONES

Image 1 of 8

Bath property for sale: Quakers Meet on Kings Weston Road, £545,000, has four bedrooms, a cellar, enclosed gardens and a garage for two cars. Knight Frank: 0117 317 1999

Image 1 of 8

Poole property fo sale: A four-bedroom house in the heart of old-town Poole is for sale for £439,000 with Savills (01202 708888). The property includes a large entrance hall, cellar and a private courtyard garden

Image 1 of 8

Exeter property for sale: St Leonards, a short walk from the city centre, is Exeter's most sought after area. Here, Strutt & Parker is selling a six-bedroom listed house for £1.6 million. It has a gym, parking area and landscaped gardens. Strutt & Parker:

There are three attributes people look for in a home in Bath, according to French chef and baker Richard Bertinet, who runs a cookery school in the city. "They want a view, a garden and a parking space," he says. "But you can only ever have two. You have to compromise."

Bertinet and his wife, Jo, are selling their four-bedroom Georgian house with a view and garden, and looking for a larger house in the town, within walking distance of the cookery school on St Stephens Terrace.

This is where he is today, giving a knife skills and carving lesson to 13 students. "Why do British people always say the French have a love affair with garlic?" he asks. "The British eat much more garlic bread than we do. A farmer near here grows 14 different varieties." No one in the room looks surprised or impressed; most of the cookery class live in or near Bath and are used to eating local produce. The blood oranges, chicken, mackerel and lamb featuring in the lesson are produced nearby. Even the flour for the bread comes from a local mill.

But this wasn't why Bertinet, who was born in Brittany in north-west France, moved to Bath five years ago with Jo and three children. "I was working in a hotel in London, but having three children in the city was getting expensive," he says. "I decided to buy a chateau in France and start a cooking school, but after one meeting with the French authorities I thought: 'What am I doing? I left France for a good reason'."

He studied the map of Britain and homed in on Bath. "It is central, near an airport and attracts thousands of tourists each year," he says. The location has paid off; last year the Bertinet Cookery School was voted best tourist attraction in the South West. Bertinet has written two books on breadmaking: Dough and Crust. "Bread is going to be the next big thing," he says.

But the move to Bath has been successful from a personal, as well as a professional, point of view. "There are amazing schools and the countryside is so close," says Bertinet. "The only problem is there are about 1,000 people looking for the same house as we are."

The property market in Bath has "gone potty", according to Andrew Cronan from Savills estate agency. "We're selling houses from £750,000 to £2 million; it's the strongest it's ever been." Actor Nicolas Cage, who owned a castle outside Bath, is rumoured to be house hunting, he says, but most of the buyers on his books have young children and appreciate Bath's good schools, culture and architecture. "They're prepared to get on with purchasing," he says. House prices in Bath are the most expensive in the West Country and have increased by 9.62 per cent since March 2009, according to Zoopla.co.uk The average property costs £295,727, compared with £208,225 in Bristol and £219,508 in Exeter.

The Bertinets' house in Berkeley Place is on the market for £650,000 and is suitable for a small family, with an open-plan drawing room and withdrawing room, dining room with balcony, and a large garden. "It's a great address and has a wonderful view," says Edward Lucas of Knight Frank in Bath. "But with three children and a dog, the Bertinets need somewhere bigger."

"Bath is a lovely place to have a family and arguably one of the best cities to live in Britain," says Lucas. "The Theatre Royal is excellent and there are a host of museums, and the schools are a major driver."

It was the schools that lured Sion, a member of today's cookery class, to a village near Bath with his wife two years ago. "I graduated from Bath University and went abroad, but I came back and got a job as a fund-raiser at the university," he says. "Most of my friends here are Bath graduates who work for engineering companies, in tourism, or for small IT companies."

There are two pubs in his village; the old one is 800 years old and the new one is 400. "It's a slower pace of life here," he says. "Milk is delivered from a local farmer. It costs the same as in a supermarket, but you know it has come from cows two miles away."

Anthony, another member of the class, moved from Kennington in south London to a village outside Bath 18 months ago. "In London I spent so much on booze and eating out," he says. "I must have lost two stone since I moved here and I've saved a fortune." That's not to say he doesn't miss London occasionally. "Once you've had a taste of it you always do, but I wouldn't go back," he says. "The quality of life is much higher here and London is only an hour and half by train."

Richard Bertinet also misses the buzz of London. "The problem with Bath is that it's a bit of a graveyard of ambition. People spend so much time worrying about preserving the architecture, but it's like walking onto a film set. Paris was a dump but then they built things like the Louvre pyramid and it moved on. Bath needs to evolve in the same way."

But others – Edward Lucas of Knight Frank included – believe those uniform Georgian streets are the reason Bath's property market is the strongest in the South West. "Moving here is a lifestyle choice," he says. "People like the architecture, and the way everything is easy to get to. You have good shops and restaurants, the rugby club is on your doorstep and you are surrounded by National Trust land."

Simon Lord, of Winkworths estate agency in Bath, which opened 10 days ago, says buyers in Bath find comfort in the fact that the landscape will still look the same in 200 years.

"It's a Unesco World Heritage city. You've got to accept the fact that change happens very gradually here," he says. "But the contemporary extension of the Holbourne Museum has been given approval – perhaps that will release some confidence among the planners."

Bertinet is not convinced, but he's still holding out for a large house in the centre of the city. "You think when you live in London that it would be fun to live 10 miles outside Bath in a mansion. But it would be a pain when you wanted to buy a newspaper."

The Bertinets' house is on the market with Knight Frank: 01225 325999. For information on the Bertinet Kitchen Cookery School, thebertinetkitchen.com